354:3 -- Beetles and Shadow Lords
Summary Gorm, Miller, Scratch, and Urist, lead by Hedwig, go to the Formian hives. A beetle is killed with extreme style by Sketch and Miller (not theives) on the way. Telepathic formian juice is drunk, shadows are exorcised from formians, cultists dispatched, and sadly the queen dies. Gorm, mind-controlled, runs off down a tunnel. The group finds out (by talking to rocks) that there is a prison containing a shadow lord at the end of the tunnel, made by the serpent men. They don't catch up to Gorm in time to stop him from opening it, and a shadow lord is released. He rewards Gorm by removing the shadow hiding within him, and granting him a new sinister looking arm. He tells the party that two other shadow lords remain (1. in the top island of the map, 2. across a lake by mt. Magpie) and the party pretends to be open to the idea of helping him. He carries them to a fortress of ice far south "to test them", but while left unattended, the party escapes, looting some treasure on the way. They teleport out towards Whitmouth, but don't make it all the way, so they have to escape from starving hungry lizardmen before walking back (also very hungrily). Hedwig's book is still missing. Notable treasure *Hedwig: Formian ambe *Urist: A robe that makes the wearer immune to cold *orm: A muscly replacement arm, made of shadows. Seems to do something with freezing. Notable lore discovered> *Serpent men orginally released & then imprisoned the shadow lords ("the great cold") *Lizardmen are currently starving *Shadows are drawn to warmth, but it harms them *Two other sites of shadow lord imprisonment (top north/west island, across a lake from mt magpie) Hedwig's Report Study of the degradation of class one shadow species containment structures. Addendum: novel coleoptera specimen discovered. Author: Gudmansdottir, H.* We are grateful for the assistance of Gorm, Miller, Scratch, and Urist. (Submitted winter 354). *Contact with the author may be made via the library of Whitmouth, Mithrasia. Abstract An expedition to a Formian Hive revealed a new species of coleoptera, telepathy-based communications structures in Formian society, and behavioral details of shadow manifestations. An ancient containment structure, implied to be built by serpent men, was opened and found to contain a great and powerful humanoid, which named itself a dark lord. The expedition was compulsorily transported to a southern location which contained ice structures and a community of cultists. Introduction It was recently shown that Formians (Formicidae Giganticus Sapiens) inhabit ground-based dwellings, such as the Formian Hive, south-west of Whitmouth. Recently the hive was shown to contain structures built by the ecologically damaging, sentient, powerful faction known colloquially as “the shadows.” The authors hypothesised this indicated the presence of some tactical, ecological, or fiscal advantage within the Formian Hive. An expedition was mounted to the hive, and useful discoveries were found as detailed below. Method A 5-member expedition left from Whitmouth towards the the Formian hive. A novel coleoptera species was discovered. Unlike most beetles, the specimen found was 2.37m from head to abdomen tip with a proportionally small wingspan of 2.10m. The specimen was capable of extruding from its mouthparts a projectile of acidic nature, a sample of which may be obtained from the first author. Regrettably the less academically minded members of this expedition dispatched the unique creature before further study could be made. The Formian Hive is structurally helical and made of metamorphic rock compounds. Deceased Formians were found in large number in the interior, which was very poorly lit. After sampling a Formian byproduct (samples available from the first author), the expedition members were able to engage telepathically with each other and the remaining living Formians. These Formians were carrying arcane parasitic shadow manifestations, in the form of black, moving tattoos. The affect of these seemed to be some sort of crude mind-control. Notably, these manifestations were drawn to heat, which allowed us to successfully remove them from most infected parties, including the Formian queen. Due to the deaths of the remaining Formians while clashing with some delinquent humans in robes, she elected to die in the lava deep in her hive. An interesting facet of the Formian culture, yet the author cannot help but remark sadly that she felt a growing fondness for the queen. It was found that Gorm, a human, was vulnerable to the influence of these shadows. He travelled towards an unknown destination at a velocity too high to be easily hindered. The author used a small amount of thaumic power to interview a rock formation, which claimed to have been “younger” at the time when all land mass was grouped together in a supercontinent (which yields credence to Ploughman & Galadiir’s hypotheses (Arcana, 332)). The interviewed rock claimed that serpentmen originally called upon “the great coldness,” but after it tried to annihilate them, they locked away the most powerful ones in prisons which could only be opened from the outside, one of which was at the end of the tunnel we were in at the time. In a moment of weakness Gorm’s mind was taken by the Shadows and used to open the shadow prison, a semi-opaque rippling black surface. The emergent creature was approximately 10-20m in height, humanoid, shadowy black in colour with two solid blue eyes. It was able to communicate with us in common, naming itself a dark lord, and very able in magical manipulation, creating at-will a wall of ice and a flexible arm of shadow for Gorm. The author notes that it then claimed to remove the shadow parasite within Gorm; certainly we could not detect any traces of shadow magic inside him later (his new arm, however, we do not include in this assessment). The dark lord, in the authors opinion, spent some time toying with us (revealing the locations of two further imprisoned dark lords) before taking us to a location in the far south. It travelled in two days a distance I estimate our expedition would need a month to traverse. We were left, alone, in a camp made entirely of ice, and populated by people my expedition members identified as cultists. Noting that the cultists appeared to venerate Gorm as “the foesmasher” and “releaser of the dark lord”, we took the opportunity to make our escape. A number of useful items were obtained while leaving, including a robe which appears to make the wearer completely immune to cold. The author can personally report that the dark citadel nearby (seemingly of pre- Rath-dynasty architectural style with a strong circular element) emanates a strong aura of power which can be drawn upon from more than two days travel away. This was used to facilitate a teleportation spell, bringing us to a reportedly “friendly” lizardman camp. This name may once have been apt, however we stress that under conditions of extreme starvation they have become hostile, and we narrowly escaped uneaten. From here on we had a relatively uneventful, if hungry, return journey to Whitmouth. Results & Discussion Several novel results were found of interest: 1. Beetles The presence of large beetles has interesting implications for our current theories of insect anatomy and structure; it is unclear how this species remains viable given its small surface area to volume ratio. The acidic compound produced by the insect may have potential pharmacological and arcane applications. 2. Formian hive structure and culture Formian creatures communicate telepathically by ingestion of an extruded product. This is likely to revolutionize communications and logistics problems. 3.Shadow parasite behaviour Shadow parasites are attracted to heat; given sufficient incentive they will leave a host body and jump to the heat source. This appears to have a cancellation effect; an amount of the heat source will be used up in unknown ratio until the shadow manifestation is destroyed. 4.Geological history Witness interview supports the hypothesis that at one point all landmass was condensed into a supercontinent. 5.Shadow imprisonment systems “The shadows” appear to have been originally summoned, then imprisoned, by Serpentmen. An inter-dimensional element seems to be involved in these prisons, however, they are uncomplicated to open from the outside. 6.Ecological imbalance Severe shortages of food have caused fatal intra- and extra- species antagonism south of Whitmouth and should be addressed immediately. Conclusion The Formian hive was found to contain much of interest; especially a prison which formerly contained a ‘dark lord’ or ‘shadow lord.’ Further research into the nature and creation of these prisons is recommended urgently. Additionally, some information about local fauna has been revealed. Miller's Report Ariadne Miller Upper Loft, Winking Catspaw Inn Skagsmiir by the Sea Ariadne dearest, I hope this letter and small sum of coin finds you and the boy well. It may warm the cockles of your heart to note that I am not deceased at this present time, although this new land is as dangerous as it is foreign. I haven't struck the mother-load yet, but I fancy my chances so long as something doesn't eat me first. I'm sure I can make enough to get you and the lad out of Skagsmiir and into somewhere much nicer, somewhere you deserve. Went on a bit of an adventure with an eclectic wee bunch of sods. Half of them didn't even reach my chest in height, would you believe it! We went off with the idea in our heads of exploring some caverns, but after a quick fight with some terribly large beetles (much bigger than even the roaches by the docks) we found ourselves talking to a giant queen ant, apparently some shadowy things have set up camp over here too and they'd mucked about in her brain. We went and fought some people in robes. I was very brave, knocked one into a fiery crevasse of all things, although I almost fell in myself too! We soon realised one of our own had run away though, not because he was craven I suspected, but fouler doings were afoot. We caught up with him as he opened this gate... Some horrible, terrible beast emerged from within, the other adventurers call them "Shadow Lords", but bugger me if this thing is any lord of mine. It carried us off to it's home after fixing Gorm(less) up with a blinking massive black arm. However, due to my... ingenuity and natural talent, I was able to pick some locks, there was a wee scuffle and then we got the hell outa dodge. Keep the lad outa trouble, tell Blind Korwan to keep his hands off ya, and don't spend all the dosh I sent you at once. I miss you. Your doting (and still very alive) husband, Elanthiir Miller Category:Shadows Category:Formians Category:Lizardmen Category:Dark Lords Category:Actual Play Category:Serpentmen